By Augustine Octavius
The newly appointed Minister of Agriculture has vowed that during his time in office he will make Liberia food sufficient and be able to export rice in four years.
Rice is Liberia’s main staple food and this country imports well over US$200 million worth of this commodity yearly from Asia and other parts of the world.
Dr. Magana Flomo noted that there cannot be development in the midst of hunger because people cannot innovate.
Dr. Flomo gave the assurance when he formally took over the gavel authority recently as Minister of Agriculture in the Township of Garnerville outside Monrovia .
“As the Ministry of Agriculture, we have the greater work to done when it come from lifting the condition of the poor people from one level another based on the pro- poor agenda that government is preaching,“ he said.
The career agriculturist adding, ”the first thing that a poor man needs for him and his family is food.”
“We will be in all areas of agriculture and we will ensure that what we eat is produced by us,” Minister Flomo said
“I feel shame when people go to the Ivory Coast and Guinea for pepper when we have the same soil here,” the new Agriculture Ministry boss lamented.
Minister Flomo pointed out that when he complained that the 2,5 million United States dollars was too small, the Liberian Senate said the ministry was getting millions on United States Dollars from international partners through the Project Implementation Unit.
“But later, I got to know that the budget of the PMU is not under the Ministry. However, this time we will want to tell our partners that we will tell what people want,” the new Agriculture Minister disclosed.
“We’ll ensure that we put the necessary mechanism in place in order for our international partners to know that monies that they will be giving that we see the tracker down effect,” Dr. Flomo said.
He encouraged Liberians to be honest in whatever that they are doing because whatever that is done with monies of international partner will affect the future generation.
According to the new Agriculture Minister, employees should assist the new management team seek the whereabouts of the property of the Ministry, because almost everything was looted.
At present, he went on, there is no car for the appointed officials and he said based on this, “we will have a complete audit in order to know what is here, what is left and the entire assets of the ministry.”
Minister Flomo thanked the international partners for the cooperation over the years because we are going to be knocking at their doors.
“We will work with cooperatives, the farmers and research institution. We should exporting rice, not importing rice,” the Agriculture Minister concluded.